Clandestine Colorado Coffee
by Bastard Snow
Summary: Fifth in the Coffee series. The Scoobies head west…
1. Chapter 1

Title: Clandestine Colorado Coffee

Rating: PG-13

Author: Bastard Snow

Summary: Fifth in the Coffee series. The Scoobies head west…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Notes: There will be at least 2 more fics in the Coffee Series. Probably some spoilers for Stargate Season 8. And Sam doesn't have a boyfriend. Oh, and thanks to Drake for editing. And there's probably other stuff I should put here, but I can't think of it at the moment.

Feedback: Yes, please!

* * *

"Guys," Willow said, as Faith, Xander and Buffy were packing their belongings. They were getting ready to leave Philadelphia and the Matthews family. "We've got a problem."

"Where to now?" Faith asked.

"West," Willow said. She turned to her oldest friend. "And Xander, we might need your fire truck."

----------

Three days earlier

General Jack O'Neill looked over his men in the infirmary and wondered what in the hell happened. It was just a bar fight, after all. His men were trained special forces, most of them, and they got taken apart. Two of them were killed, and it was the weirdest thing; they each had puncture marks in their necks, but the rest of the group insisted that the guys they fought didn't have any weapons. None of the doctors had any idea what was going on.

Jack left the infirmary, after confirming with the doctor that the ones who survived the fight would, in fact, recover. He had an appointment with some lieutenant who claimed it was urgent that they speak. At that point, Jack was willing to talk to just about anybody if it would get his mind off the men in the infirmary.

Jack got to his office, ushered the young lieutenant in and sat down.

"So, Lieutenant…"

"Biggs, sir," the young man said. "Terry Biggs."

"Lieutenant Biggs," Jack said. "What's up?"

"Sir, it's about the men… um, the ones who were in the fight?"

Jack stared at the man for a moment, disappointed that his distraction wasn't going to be, in fact, a distraction at all. He sighed.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Sir, I heard some rumors –"

"Hold on. You urgently needed to talk to me about rumors?"

"Only to find out if they were true, sir," Biggs said. Jack noticed his hand was shaking. He was nervous, he was worried.

"You couldn't find that out from someone else?"

"Yes sir," Biggs said. "But if they are true? Then we really need to talk."

Jack looked at the young man for a minute. Nervous, yes. But also serious.

"All right," Jack said. "What have you heard?"

"That Lieutenants Jansen and Kaplan were killed, sir," Biggs said, "and that they had puncture wounds, two each, on their necks." He held two fingers to his jugular. "Here."

"That's right. And?"

"Sir, can you tell me what their official cause of death was? Was it exsanguination?"

Jack stared at the young man. He was less nervous now, but still just as serious. Jack opened the two files he had just brought up from the infirmary.

"Exsanguination," he said, after a moment. "Extreme blood loss."

"Was the blood found at the scene, sir?" Biggs was slowly inching forward in his seat.

"No, Biggs, it wasn't. How do you know all this?"

"A bit of family business, sir," Biggs said, "that's intruded on professional life."

Jack was entirely too confused for his liking.

"And that means?"

"Sir, that means you need to talk to my little sister," Biggs said.

Jack was amazed. He had said that. Biggs actually had said his commanding officer, a brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, needed to talk to his little sister.

"Can you tell me why, Lieutenant Biggs?" Jack asked.

"Yes, sir," Biggs said, grinning. The son-of-a-bitch was actually grinning. "But you'd do a lot better to hear it from her."

----------

Four days later

Xander stepped off the plane and into the terminal, followed closely by Buffy, Willow and Faith. A young girl was there waiting for them, despite current homeland security laws saying she really wasn't allowed to do that. Apparently being escorted by a uniformed brigadier general of the U.S. Air Force got you some leeway with the laws.

"Hey guys!" the girl called, waving at them excitedly. Xander smiled. He remembered the girl fondly. She had been one of the first they had recruited, and her family had been extremely understanding. Partly, he remembered, because of the calming influence of her older brother, who had been home on leave. From the Air Force.

Xander hefted his carry-on farther up on his shoulder, and snapped a picture perfect salute to the General. The man was a little taken aback, but quickly recovered and returned the gesture.

"General O'Neill," the girl – Amy, Xander remembered – began introductions. "This is Xander, Buffy, Willow and Faith. They're what you might call our A-Team. Guys, this is General Jack O'Neill."

"Nice to meet you," Xander said.

"You guys don't look very old," O'Neill said.

"That's because we're still young," said Buffy. "Relatively."

General O'Neill raised a single eyebrow

"Where are Dawn and Giles?" Buffy asked.

"Back at the hotel room," Amy said. "I confirmed yesterday morning that there's a nest in town. We're not sure where, yet. They're going over a map with Terry, trying to figure out where the most likely place is."

"How big a nest?" Faith asked.

"No fewer than twenty," Amy said.

"Hey, I got a question," O'Neill said as the group loaded their bags into the Chevy Suburban he had brought. "Can all of you do that steel-bending, jumping-really-high, beating-up-people-you-have-no-right-being-able-to-beat-up thing?"

"Only two of us," Xander said, hooking his thumb at Buffy and Faith. "But I can give you a good staring-at."

"Fair enough," O'Neill said. They sped off.

"I've got a question too, actually," Xander said. "What's a brigadier general doing picking people up from the airport?"

O'Neill smiled. "Your people intrigue me, and you get me out of paperwork."

"Happy to help," Buffy said.

"So here's an interesting thing," O'Neill said. "All of you have government files that I have sufficient clearance to read, but can't get far into. In fact, your name and a brief physical description is about all I got."

Xander smiled.

"That's because you don't need more than that," Willow said.

"Don't I?" O'Neill asked.

"Nope," Willow said.

"You really don't," Xander said. He decided to give the general a little more information about them. "Just like, apparently, we don't need to see very deep into your file."

O'Neill turned his head to Xander and raised an eyebrow. After a long moment, he turned back to the road and drove on in silence.

----------

Jack O'Neill was not a happy camper. This group of kids – and they weren't fooling anybody with that 'relatively' crap, they were all still kids – had files he couldn't read. He would, if he played by the rules, know next to nothing about them, and he was supposed to be working with them. He didn't like working with people he didn't know anything about. What if they were a remnant NID cell, and set this whole thing up to infiltrate the Stargate program? Sure, General Hammond – or George, as he now wanted Jack to call him – had told him they were fine, but how did he know the files weren't a plant?

That sounded a little paranoid. But, hell, it was the NID! Paranoid was the only sane thing to be. That didn't explain, though, really, really powerful small girls. As far as he knew, most girls that size couldn't bend steel. Granted, he hadn't had that much interaction with them, but come on. How common could it be?

And there were three of them in his car.

Driving. Jack needed to concentrate on driving. The hotel that the girls and that older guy, Mr. Giles, had checked into was around here somewhere. It was a nice hotel, probably the nicest in the entire damn town, and they'd just gotten a couple of suites like it was no big deal. That meant they had some fairly serious money.

What were these people? Who were these people?

"So," said Xander, the one-eyed kid sitting next to him. Yes. That's right. Somebody under twenty-five who lost an eye, if George was to be believed, fighting a priest. It was obvious the guy was about to try breaking the ice somehow.

"You're probably wondering about us, huh?"

"You might say that," Jack said.

"Look, the reason you can't get into our files is that we were involved with some stuff a few years ago that the government doesn't want to get around. As for our day-to-day jobs, that's really something we can tell people at our discretion."

"Is it, now?"

"Yeah," Xander said. He turned around and looked at somebody in the back, Jack couldn't tell who.

"What do you know so far?" The blonde one, Buffy, asked.

"Only what Ms. Biggs here and her brother have told me. There's weird stuff going on, I don't necessarily need to know what it is, only that it can be handled," Jack said.

"Amy's brother didn't tell you?" The redhead – the one with the tree for a name – asked. Willow. That was it.

"He said it wasn't his secret to tell," Jack said. He was clearly displeased about that.

"He's under your command," Xander pointed out. "Couldn't you have ordered him to tell you?"

"I could," Jack said. "But he said it wasn't his secret to tell."

Jack looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the girls smiling.

"Good," Xander said. "Then when we get to the hotel, we'll talk."

Jack saw that Xander was completely sincere. He pushed the pedal down a little farther.

----------

"Okay," O'Neill said once they reached the hotel room. "We're here, explain." At least the guy had the decency to wait until they had all greeted each other, many of them with hugs and kisses, and until those who needed to had used the bathroom. But now, it seemed, he was impatient. That was okay, Xander thought. Generals weren't normally used to waiting for people.

"General," Buffy said, "you're going to want to sit down."

"I like standing fine, thanks," O'Neill said.

"It's your bruised head…" said Buffy.

Xander smiled. "Giles?" he said. Giles merely shook his head, and lightly pushed Dawn forward.

Dawn grinned in excited anticipation and launched into the now famous Official History of The World Introduction Speech. She did it as well as Giles ever had and, Xander had to admit, she was more likely to get guys of any age to pay attention. Not that he had ever thought about her like that. Especially not when she had been dancing with that kid with the magic jacket. Daddy very definitely still did not like even looking.

Really.

Xander had expected that Jack, as Buffy thought, would need a chair once he'd been told. After all, he didn't have any experience with this type of thing. He worked on 'deep space radar telemetry' or something like that. His file hadn't been exactly clear on what that was all about, but it looked like some cushy office job they got for somebody on his way to retirement.

So he was surprised when O'Neill crossed his arms, his eyes only showing a little surprise, and said, "Huh." This was not a man unfamiliar with strange things. The Scoobies exchanged wary glances.

"So," Jack said. "What you're telling me is that the things that attacked my men weren't human. They were vampires."

"Um. Yeah," Xander said.

"Okay," Jack said, twirling his keys in his hand. "Well, that about takes care of my weird quota for the day. If you guys need anything, Lt. Biggs knows how to get in contact with me."

"That's it?" Faith asked.

"Uhh… yep," said O'Neill. "The truth is, I don't really care what the real cause of this stuff is. I just want it taken care of. I've been assured by people with a higher clearance than me that you guys are the people to take care of it."

Of course he'd had them checked out, Xander thought. You didn't get to be a General without making some friends, and some of those friends were almost bound to be of a higher rank – and security clearance – than yourself. And here Jack had made them think he didn't know anything about them. This guy was smart.

"Oh, I was wondering though. I've got this friend. He likes old books. You folks seem like 'old book' people, and there's a list he gave me a few years ago of some books he'd like to have. Do you mind if I pass it on to you?"

They were standing around in various states of surprise.

"Um, no," Giles said. "I can't guarantee anything, but I suppose we could take a look. Would it be possible, perhaps, to –"

"You want to give me a list, I'll make sure he gets it," said O'Neill. He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

----------

End Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Clandestine Colorado Coffee

Rating: PG-13

Author: Bastard Snow

Summary: Fifth in the Coffee series. The Scoobies head west…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Notes: There will be at least 2 more fics in the Coffee Series. Probably some spoilers for Stargate Season 8. And Sam doesn't have a boyfriend. Oh, and thanks to Drake for editing. And there's probably other stuff I should put here, but I can't think of it at the moment.

Feedback: Yes, please!

* * *

"What's that?" Faith asked. She was looking over Xander's shoulder.

"Schematics," he said. "A layman's design for making a fire truck spew holy water."

"Really?" Faith asked. "Can't you just, I dunno… pump the truck full of the stuff?"

"Sure," Xander said. "If I can find a priest who'll bless the whole city's water supply, and the reserve tanks on whatever truck we use."

"So what's this for?" she asked, leaning over his seated form. She noticed him take a quick glance at her chest before focusing on the paper.

"Basically? It's a really big IV bag of holy water providing a constant drip into the stream. Holy water can be diluted pretty heavily and still have a big kick. I'm just trying to figure out how to mount the damn thing."

Faith leaned back and shook her head. "I can't believe you're seriously talking about doing this with a fire hose."

"Why not?" Xander asked. "Smack 'em with a ton of holy water and they'll fry before we see them. It cuts down on risks, which should cut down on casualties."

"Hey, anythin' keeps my ass outta the fire, I'm in favor of."

"Good lord."

Faith and Xander both turned to look at Giles. He was reading a couple pieces of paper that the bellman had brought up from the front desk.

"What's up?" Dawn asked. She, Buffy and Willow were just returning from getting food.

Giles handed her the paper, and Faith could see Dawn's eyes get wider as she scanned it. "Giles," she said. "This guy is no fake."

"I had noticed," he said.

"The Alderman Codex volume III? Does that mean he has the first two?" she asked.

"I was made to understand they no longer existed. On this plane, at least. Do you notice a theme running through the books?"

Dawn was shaking her head, still scanning the list. "Oh my God," she said, suddenly. "The Egypt thing."

Faith looked at Xander quizzically. He just shook his head in ignorance and turned back to his drawing, but Faith was interested in what the brains were up to.

"Egypt have some mystical… thing?" Faith asked.

"Numerous mystical 'things'," Giles said. "However, the one Dawn is referring to is a mystery that we have never been able to solve. Rumors of demons taking over bodies, and being infused with great strength, and certain changes to their character."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Sounds just like vampires."

"At first glance, yes," Giles said. "However, none of the writings indicate anything about them being banished to the night. None of the writings make any mention of a way to kill them. More than that, these demons became what, today, we recognize as the pantheon of Egyptian gods."

"What, you mean like Ra and those big-ass beetles and all that shit?" Faith asked.

"Precisely," Giles said. "In certain areas, the Egyptians seem to refer to their gods fearfully, but not as one fears a deity, more as one fears…"

"The boogeyman," said Dawn.

"Right. And yet, in others, the gods are revered. It has been a dichotomy that has puzzled Egyptologists for years."

"Egyptologists?" Faith asked. "They made a whole science out of that?"

"Mmm," Giles said, leaning back in his chair. "Quite a popular one, too. In fact, there was even a young man about a decade ago who theorized that the pyramids were built by aliens."

"What happened to him?" Faith asked.

"I believe he was laughed out of the room at his presentation, and then disappeared. The last I heard, the prevailing theory was that he had committed suicide."

"Giles," Dawn said. "We have to make up a list and give it to these guys."

"Of course," Giles said.

When the two of them began talking about books, Buffy and Faith quickly lost interest. Faith turned back to Xander to find Willow going over his drawings.

"Hey," Buffy said, looking around the suite. "Aren't we missing a couple of people?"

"Oh," Faith said. "General O'Neill gave Terry the day off. Not much they can do here, so they're out catchin' up. Sibling thing."

"Which I could do, too," Buffy said, "if my sister weren't a mini-Giles."

"Yeah, but you got a one-up," Faith said. "Dude's got a job he's gotta do, takes him wherever the Army says."

"Air Force," Buffy corrected.

"Whatever. Point is, you got a job takes you all over… but you can drop that any time you want."

"What do you mean?"

Faith shrugged. "There's other people can do what you're doing. You ain't alone in this anymore."

Buffy looked over Faith's shoulder at Xander and Willow, who were teasing each other over something. She smiled.

"The truth is," Buffy said, "I haven't been alone in this since L.A. I just didn't know it."

She brushed past Faith and sat down at the table with her two best friends. Faith looked at the three of them, and then at Giles and Dawn, engrossed in their books, and found herself with no refuge from boredom save her bedroom. She scuffed her feet across the carpet all the way to her room.

After five minutes of lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, Faith reached into her bag and grabbed the book she was reading, something Willow had suggested called _American Gods_. At first she was wary, because the book was about an ex-con, and she still wasn't sure that the witch was entirely comfortable with her. But the book didn't suck, so she read it anyway.

"So what," Xander said from the door, a couple minutes later, "we have to invite you?"

Faith rested the book on her chest. "What?"

"Do we have to invite you?" he asked, only very slowly, as if he were speaking to someone who knew very little English, or was very, very stupid.

"Invite me where?" she asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"To sit down at a table and talk," he said. "Or do you still prefer the loner thing?"

Faith shook her head, her eyes still showing confusion. Xander sighed entered the room and sat at the foot of her bed. "We're really not that cliquish, are we?"

Faith shrugged. "Kinda."

Xander shook his head. "For years, we haven't had anybody but ourselves to rely on," he said. "It's kinda… hard-wired in at this point."

Faith nodded. She understood. It sucked for her, sometimes, but she got it. The Scoobies weren't just friends, they were family. Thicker than blood, and all that. She knew there wasn't a one of 'em wouldn't die for any of the others, and that was tight. But anyone else around 'em could get a bit lonely, sometimes.

"Listen," Xander said. "Anytime we're doing that, just sit down with us. We're actually quite nice, you know."

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I swear!" he said. "Even Willow. Sure, she can be catty at times, but…" Faith chuckled. Xander shook his head again and patted her on the leg. And Faith barely noticed the contact. Really. "Seriously. If we're ignoring you, just smack me on the head or something."

"I don't wanna intrude," she said.

"You're my friend," Xander said. "You're not intruding." She nodded. "Come join us?"

Faith smiled. "Finish my page and I'm there," she said.

Xander smiled at her and left the room. Faith smacked herself in the head with her book. "I gotta get over this thing," she muttered. She marked her place and went out to join the others.

----------

"Here you go," Jack said, holding out a few pieces of paper.

"Just put it down, if you would," said Daniel as he continued typing.

"Sure," Jack said, placing the papers by Daniel's keyboard. "What are you working on?"

"That translation from the ruins we found a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't had time to go through them until today, and I'm just finishing up," he said. "How's your mystery going?'

"Oh, solved," he said. "It's being taken care of."

"That uh…" Daniel said, looking up. "That doesn't sound like you, Jack. You usually take care of things, you know… personally."

"Yeah, well," Jack said. "I'm involved, I'm just not what you'd call 'hands on' on this one."

"I see," Daniel said. He went back to typing. "What's that thing you gave me?"

"You remember that list you gave me, of books you wanted?"

"Oh, you mean that list you took and filed away and haven't spoken a word about since? Yeah, I remember."

"Right, well, I gave it to some friends of Lt. Biggs. Anything with a check mark next to it they can get you copies of. The third page there is a list of things they're looking for."

"Oh," Daniel said, stopping his work again.

"Well, I'll be in my office, if you need me," Jack said. "So long."

"Bye," Daniel said. He squinted at the paper.

Jack went out into the hall and heard a loud crash from Daniel's office. He rushed back inside.

"Daniel!" he yelled, looking for his friend. Daniel stood up from the floor.

"I'm all right," Daniel said, picking his stool up from the floor. He gripped the papers in his fist and thrust them at Jack. "I need to meet these people."

"Why?" Jack asked, stepping back from Daniel's fist.

"Just in case they're trying to end the world," Daniel said.

Jack blinked at him, the shook his head. He turned and walked out of the room, muttering something about never, ever having anything be easy.

----------

Xander pushed open the door to the hotel's indoor pool. He tossed his towel onto a plastic chair, kicked off his flip-flops, and pulled his shirt off over his head, and made as if to dive in.

Across the pool, a shapely brunette chose that moment pop up out of the water clad in a barely-there red bikini that covered deliciously small amounts of her shapely backside. It was his own personal Ridgemont High moment.

Xander's attention was pulled away from his jump mid-stride, and instead of diving into the pool, he slipped and cracked his head on the edge of the pool, and slid off into the water, unconscious.

He awoke a few minutes later to find himself wrapped in a towel, with a hand-towel pressed to his head in lieu of a bandage. He was being cradled in Dawn's arms.

"Hey," she said as he came around. She smiled down at him.

"Hey," Xander said. "What happened?"

"You fell," she said, looking at him like he was a little puppy that followed her home. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, sitting up and facing her. "I've been hit on the head one too many times for a little concrete to take me out."

"What happened to you?"

Xander opened his mouth when a sudden and horrifying revelation hit him. Dawn was the girl in the bikini. He shook his head to rid himself of the image, and promptly told the only half-truth available to him.

"Slipped," he said. "You know me… clumsy with depth perception, clumsier without."

Dawn smiled at him. "Come on," she said, standing up and reaching for his hand. "Let's get back to the room and put a proper bandage on that."

"Thanks," Xander said, taking her hand and standing. He slipped his shirt on carefully over his wounded head and slipped on his flip-flops, then began following Dawn back up to the suite. He quickly passed her and led the way to the suite. No sense tempting fate.

They arrived to find General O'Neill – and apparently a few of his friends – had come for a visit.

"What happened?" Willow asked, rushing to inspect Xander's head. Giles looked up from what appeared to be an in-depth conversation with a pretty blonde lady and a man who, Xander suspected, was O'Neill's friend who 'liked old books.'

"Nothing," Dawn said, sauntering into the room sans-towel. "Xander just slipped at the pool while he was checking out my ass."

"Dawn!" Buffy scolded. Xander could feel the heat rising on his cheeks and neck.

"What?" Dawn asked, one hand at her hip and the other casually holding the towel away from her body. "The windows were like mirrors, I totally saw him."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "We're all aware you had a happy puberty fairy. Go put some clothes on."

Dawn stuck her tongue out and retreated to her room.

"You'll be fine," Willow announced after applying a real bandage to his head.

"I know," Xander said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go change and die of embarrassment."

Willow followed him into his room and shut the door behind them.

Xander sat roughly down on his bed. "I didn't even know it was her," he said. "Until I woke up, that is."

"Sweetie," Willow said, kissing him on the forehead, "it would have happened to any of us."

"Not you, or Faith, or Buffy or Giles," he said.

"Don't be so sure about me," Willow said, sitting next to him. "Remember, 'right there with ya.'"

Xander laughed and shook his head. He stood up and started changing. "So what's with the army-types?"

"Book stuff," Willow said, not turning as he slipped into his boxers and jeans. "Some of the books Giles and Dawn asked about have dangerous things. They wanted to make sure we weren't in the world-ending business."

"How'd you clear that up?"

"Called the President."

"Ah."

"Yeah," Willow said, tossing Xander his deodorant, which he sprayed on liberally. "Useful. So now Giles and Dr. Jackson – that's their book guy – are all into it, and I'm sure Dawn will be, too."

"Who's the big guy with the golden brand?"

"Supposedly his name is Murray," Willow said.

Xander snorted his opinion of that, then pulled on another shirt – one without blood on it – and sat down next to Willow.

"Yeah, pretty much. Anyway, the thing on his forehead signifies obedience to Apophis."

"Who?"

"Egyptian god."

"Ah. So he's –"

"Not anymore, apparently. Though I don't know what it means if he ever was. They say he's fully a good guy, though."

"Good to know."

"Yeah. The woman is Samantha Carter, an astrophysicist."

Xander scrunched his eyes shut.

"So?" Willow asked.

"Like, Phoebe Cates."

Willow whistled.

"I get Carter," he said, switching back to the subject at hand. "O'Neill could just be up for retirement, but he doesn't seem like the type. Murray and uh…?"

"Daniel Jackson," she said. "Dr. Daniel Jackson, Egyptologist and linguist."

"Really?"

"Uh huh."

"And this has what to do with deep space radar telemetry?"

"Yeah."

Xander shook his head. "Sometimes I hate being so paranoid."

----------

End Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Clandestine Colorado Coffee

Rating: PG-13

Author: Bastard Snow

Summary: Fifth in the Coffee series. The Scoobies head west…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Notes: There will be at least 2 more fics in the Coffee Series. Probably some spoilers for Stargate Season 8. And Sam doesn't have a boyfriend. Oh, and thanks to Drake for editing. And there's probably other stuff I should put here, but I can't think of it at the moment.

Feedback: Yes, please!

* * *

"I thought he was changing," O'Neill said as he watched Willow follow Xander into his room.

"He is," Faith said. She was relaxing on the couch across from O'Neill and had been very interested in Xander's reaction to Dawn's bikini-clad self. "Why?"

"Doesn't changing often involve nudity?"

"Yeah," she said.

"So they're going out."

Faith snickered. "Nah, just old buds."

"Old buds…" O'Neill said. "With benefits?"

"Hell no," Faith said without explanation. Dawn came out wearing some comfortable jeans and a light white top, her still-damp hair across her shoulder.

"So," O'Neill said, somehow unable to wrap his mind around the concept. "She's just in there with him… naked."

Faith sighed. "Hey, who here's seen X-man naked?"

She raised her hand, as did Buffy and Dawn. Buffy cleared her throat and Giles reluctantly raised his hand as well.

Faith and Dawn looked at him oddly.

"Some things are better left not spoken of," Giles said. "Suffice to say we do on occasion live in too-close quarters."

"Or we just spy on him in the shower," said Dawn.

Buffy looked at her sister.

"What?" Dawn asked. "The girls get curious."

"Anyway," Faith said, "happens often enough that we don't really care about it anymore."

"Not that you ever did," Buffy interjected.

"Hey, got it, flaunt it, I say," Faith said with a grin. "So what's your deal?"

"My 'deal'?" O'Neill asked.

"Yeah," Faith said. "How'd you get roped into this top secret gig?"

"Victim of circumstance," O'Neill said. "I'm in the Air Force. They pretty much tell me to do whatever they want."

"Hey," Faith said, dropping her voice down low so only he could hear. "You got a thing for that Carter chick, huh?"

"I what?" O'Neill asked. He glanced over at Carter to find she was still discussing things with Daniel, Giles and Dawn.

"Your eyes rest on her longer than anyone else, even little B. And I know she gets most men's motor's runnin'."

O'Neill looked her over. "You know, you're not exactly hideous."

"Thanks, gramps," she said, patting him on the leg as she stood up and grabbed a pack of cigarettes, "but I ain't into the older men scene."

"Not that old," O'Neill grumbled.

Faith winked at him and slipped out onto the balcony.

----------

"I was um… curious, actually," Daniel said, "about a couple of volumes you asked for."

"Oh?" Giles asked. He had been scribbling notes furiously about Daniel's thoughts on some of the texts they were both seeking, and took a moment to sit back from his notepad and take a sip of his tea. Dawn picked up his notes to glance over them. "Which ones?"

Daniel reeled off the names of a few of the more… volatile texts that Giles had submitted queries about. Giles removed his glasses and polished them with his handkerchief before continuing.

"What, um, precisely were you curious about?"

"Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but why would you want them? From what I know, they're mostly about uhh… well, death and destruction, frankly."

"Mmm," Giles said. "Yes, that's true, they are. However, useful information can often be gleaned from depictions of – or even instructions for – evil doings. It is my belief that by… by educating people to the nature of evil, we can make them more aware of it, more prepared."

Daniel nodded.

"That said," Giles continued, "we requested these particular volumes because, frankly, we wanted to ensure nobody had them who wasn't appropriately informed and, well, and careful. They're far too dangerous to be left in the hands of anyone who is not fully aware of their contents."

"You don't think people can handle this type of information?"

"Generally, I am not in favor of censorship. There are, however, exceptions. These among them."

"Hmm," said Daniel, sitting back in his own chair.

"We're not trying to destroy the world, Dr. Jackson," said Giles, with a slight smile. "Were that the case, we'd just have gone to bed earlier."

Daniel looked embarrassed. "That obvious?" he asked.

Giles shook his head. "Only if one knows what to look for."

"Which I don't," Dawn said, frowning. "I totally missed the vibe."

"You're eighteen, Dawn," Giles said. "Recall at your age, I was meddling in the dark arts and causing mayhem."

Dawn sighed. "I'm all tapped out on mayhem," she said. "I'm not even up to shoplifting anymore."

Xander's door opened and he and Willow returned to the common room.

"Hey," Buffy said. "You all caught up?"

"As can be," said Xander, once again looking over their guests. "By the way, none of you guys are priests, are you?"

Murray, Carter, Daniel and O'Neill all looked at him oddly. Xander shrugged. "Worth a shot."

"Xander," Giles said. "Why don't you go over your plans with General O'Neill? He might have some input."

Xander nodded and ducked back into his room. He came back grinning like a fool.

"So," he said happily. "What do you know about fire trucks?"

----------

"You're sure this will work?" Buffy asked.

"It should," Willow said. She, Xander and Faith had personally tried it out, and they were certain this wouldn't work any differently.

"Well," said Giles, "it certainly makes things easier."

"I'm just happy we don't have to bless the whole water system," Xander said. "And my little IV bag was just too complicated. This is much easier."

"Hey, check me out," Dawn said. She was stomping around wearing a fireman's suit, from helmet to boots. It looked ridiculously large on her. Buffy turned to Xander.

"This is what you knocked yourself out over?" she asked him.

"I blame my lack of depth perception and ignorance of whom I was ogling. Hey Faith, you almost ready with those?"

Faith looked up from the table where she was stuffing rags into glass bottles filled with gasoline. "Just about," she said. "Hey, who's takin' the other side?"

"I am," Amy said proudly. The young slayer had begged to be allowed to do something, arguing that it was no fair all the old people got to have all the fun. The 'old people' agreed to let her and her brother Terry control the fire hose at the rear of the warehouse.

"I'm gonna check them one more time," Xander said. "Just for my peace of mind."

"Xander, we checked it," said Buffy. "Faith and I couldn't budge it. The water won't, either."

Xander picked up one hose. A cross, blessed by St. Anthony of Padua, had been welded to the front of the nozzle. A similar cross was welded to the other hose. Dr. Jackson had originally suggested that a holy relic might impart the same power as a blessing. Giles happened to have these crosses with him, and they were able to test the theory. It was a lot simpler.

"We're good to go," said Faith.

"And we're certain they're inside?" Giles asked.

Buffy nodded. "Yup," she said, as she downed the last of a bottle of water. "Dawn and I had it staked out early this morning. There's twenty-three vamps inside and no sewer access. Unless they wanted to get crispy, they're still there."

"Good," said Giles. "Xander, if you would?"

Xander flipped open his cell phone and dialed. He spoke to General O'Neill for a few minutes, then nodded, thanked him and hung up.

"Okay," he said. "They're intercepting all emergency traffic. Anybody reports our little fire and O'Neill's group will be the only one's to hear about it."

"Good," said Buffy. "We ready to do this?"

"You wouldn't start without me, would you?"

Everybody turned and saw Riley and Sam Finn striding up to them – with a cane in Riley's case. Greetings were exchanged and hands shaken.

"I thought you were in Fiji," said Willow.

"We were," said Sam. "Riley whined so much about missing out on the fire trucks that our CO let us off the hook. Graham's wrapping things up down there. He says hi."

"Not like I was being useful anyway," Riley said, smiling at them.

"Yeah," Xander said. "Not like that was on purpose."

"What'd you do to your head?" Riley asked.

Xander shook his head. "You don't want to know."

"Yes he does," said Buffy. "Xander was pervin' on my sister's ass, slipped and knocked himself out."

"Wow," Riley said, grinning at Xander. "You're right, I really did want to know that."

"All right, Gimp," Xander said. "What do you want, hose holding or Molotov launching?"

"I think I better leave the hose to your little butt-wielding fireman over there," he said, nodding at Dawn. She grinned at him and struck a pose that made her look even more ridiculous.

"All right," Xander said. He reached over Faith's shoulder and grabbed a couple of their homemade bombs, and handed one to Riley.

"Amy," Giles said. "You and your brother get in position. Buffy –"

"With them, right," she said.

Giles nodded. "Willow," he said, pointing to a row of windows just above head-height on the warehouse wall. "If you would."

Willow nodded, gathered some energy around herself and let fly a small spell all of the windows shattered as one, sending glass flying inside the warehouse. Shouts of surprise could be heard.

"Faith. Xander. Riley. Please do try not to miss."

Faith smiled, pulled out her lighter and lit the rags in their bottles. "Bet mine goes farthest," she said.

"Wow, a suggestion of competition from a Slayer," Xander said. "Color me shocked."

"Here's an idea," Riley said, eyeing his bottle. "Let's throw these before we die."

Xander and Faith glanced at each other. "Wuss," they said simultaneously.

Riley ignored them and chucked his bottle through a window. A loud explosion and a sort of a 'whoomf' were followed closely by screams. As one, Xander and Faith hauled back and chucked their bottles into the warehouse with similar results. Within a minute, smoke was pouring from the windows and the vampires inside could be heard screaming.

They stepped back to watch their handy work. A minute later, able, apparently, to take it no more, the door burst open and a vampire ran into the street. Dawn – with Sam helping to hold the hose steady – turned on her spray and smacked the vampire with high-pressure holy water. The combination of that, the sun and the fire made for a spectacular pyrotechnic show, and ended with a sudden explosion of steam when the sun and fire mixed with the holy water.

It was quite a show.

Six more vampires tried to run out the front of the warehouse, and nine ran out the back. All of them became, in the end, nothing more than steam puffs. Once a sufficient amount of time had passed, both teams doused the inside of the warehouse with holy water (to put out the fire, and just in case) and Willow magically smothered any hot spots left.

They inspected their work.

"This," Riley said, looking around, "is a fine piece of work."

"Very well charred, if I do say so myself," said Xander.

"Oh, and," said Buffy, "I wasn't the one who burned it down. Yay me!"

"Yeah," said Dawn, "that's like a whole new thing for you."

"Turnin' over a new leaf, B, right on," said Faith. "Instead of being the arsonist, you're just an accessory."

"You hear that?" Buffy asked, nudging Amy. "You too can aspire to a dwindling life of crime."

Amy grinned at them. "Guys," she said, "that was really cool. You totally rock."

"We do kind of rock, don't we?" asked Willow.

"Much rocking is done by us," agreed Xander.

"Mmm," said Giles. "However, Amy, I should warn you against the notion that everything –"

"Giles!" the rest of them whined.

"Stop ruining things," said Dawn, with a hearty 'harrumph.'

The group gathered their materials, called General O'Neill and let the emergency calls flow freely.

The debriefing came later.

----------

It was as informal a meeting as Jack had ever been to. Their hosts (sans Amy and Terry, who were having a brother/sister breakfast before Amy flew out again) were in either tweed (in one case) sweats (in numerous cases) or pajamas with shrimp on them. Jack wasn't quite sure how to act.

Fortunately for him, both Carter and Daniel seemed able to compose themselves and had gotten the meeting off on the right foot. They were managing, it seemed, to ask all the right questions about all the right topics without seeming like they were prying.

Jack leaned down, picked up the cup of coffee in front of him and took a tentative sip. It was probably the best coffee he'd had in years; the stuff at the base was rarely fresh-brewed, and he usually didn't drink the stuff at home.

The group, or 'Scoobies' as he heard them refer to themselves, seemed very relaxed. Jack was amazed that they'd seemingly gotten out of this without really revealing anything about themselves, or at least nothing too heinously top secret.

Somebody knocked on the door, and Faith got up to answer it. A tall young blond man and a tall young dark-haired woman were standing on the other side.

"Oh. Uh, hi Riley," said Faith.

Riley shot a sideways glance at her. "Uh. Hey, Faith," he said.

Yeah. No tension there. Jack leaned over to Xander, who was just taking a sip of his coffee.

"Hey," he whispered, "did those two used to date or something?"

Xander spit his coffee half-way across the room, eliciting a shocked scream from Dawn. Xander grimaced as Dawn ran into her room, wiping herself off as quickly as she could. Everybody looked at Xander expectantly.

"Uh," he said, waving weakly at his coffee. "It's hot?"

The other 'Scoobies' laughed, and turned their attention to their visitors.

"What's up?" Buffy asked.

The man held up a few manila folders. "What you asked for," he said, as he and the woman stepped into the room.

"And these would be?" Jack asked.

"Ah," said Giles. "How rude." He proceeded to introduce Jack's team to the new people – Riley and Sam Finn – and the two sat down with coffee of their own, taking Faith's seat. She shoved Xander over and sat next to him.

Dawn re-entered the room, wearing an entirely different ensemble of sweats. She glared at Xander who affected his best puppy dog face. Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head which, judging by Xander's happy reaction, was an 'apology accepted.'

Willow snagged the folders, flipping through them happily as Daniel and Sam continued questioning the group, who were answering questions with ease. Willow pulled Buffy closer for a second to point to something in the files. They both looked at Daniel with sympathetic eyes.

"Uh," Jack said, interrupting the flow of conversation. Everyone looked at him. "Does anybody mind if I ask what's in those files?"

"Not at all," Xander said. He hadn't even looked at the files, but he knew what they were.

"Okay," Jack said. "What's in the files?"

"That would be um… the complete records on all four of you," said Giles.

Jack and Sam shot up from their seats. "What?" they yelled simultaneously.

"Calm down," Riley said, sipping his coffee. Jack glared at him. "Um, sorry, sir. I'm not used to this whole 'being subordinate' thing anymore. They've been cleared for personal history, but certain specifics of your jobs have still been left out. For instance, what it is you actually do."

"Why do they get anything at all?" asked Jack.

Riley shrugged. "They wanted it. I'm their liaison, so I got it for them."

"You guys have a military liaison?" Jack asked. "Jeez."

The room's phone rang, and Giles picked it up.

"Hello?" he said. He listened intently for a few moments, then signaled for a pen and a piece of paper. He scribbled furiously for a few moments, asked a couple of innocuous questions like 'Are you sure?' and 'And this is confirmed?' then thanked the other person and hung up.

"That was Robin," he said. Jack caught Faith rolling her eyes, and Xander suppressing a laugh at the action. "It appears we have another job for you. Um, Faith, if I might suggest…"

"What's up?" she asked.

"This assignment seems to be of a rather… delicate nature," Giles said.

"Want me to sit it out?" she asked.

"I think it might be beneficial," said Giles.

"Don't," said Willow.

"It's cool," said Faith. "I can –"

"No, I just think… I mean, if it's delicate, then that's an opportunity to learn, right?" Willow said.

"That's a good point," said Xander. "And anyway, sometimes delicate situations need a forceful voice."

"I suppose," said Giles. "Well, if you think it's best…"

Willow and Xander nodded.

"All right," said Giles. "So be it."

"Well," said Jack, "I think that's our cue to leave. Folks, it's been… interesting."

Everybody took their cues from Jack, stood and began the long process of bidding each other farewell. When they were just about to leave, Jack looked back in the room. "Oh, uh, Faith. Could I… have a word?"

Faith looked around, as if to confirm she was in fact the Faith he was speaking to, then shrugged and followed him out of the room. Jack shooed his friends farther down the hall and leaned in to speak quietly with the slayer.

"So," he said. "You've kinda got a thing for one-eyed handymen."

Faith squinted. "Don't know what you're talking about," she said.

"Well, your eyes rest on him longer than anybody else. Even Murray, and I know that women often find him… more than adequate looking."

Faith opened her mouth to deny his claim, then closed it and glared.

Jack grinned and held out his hand. "Your secret's safe if mine is."

Faith gripped his hand and squeezed… harder than she needed to.

"Just remember," Faith said. "I can do more than just bend steel rebar."

She released his hand, and he looked at it. His skin was white and his hand hurt like hell. Faith winked at him and opened the door.

"Later, flyboy," she said, slipping back into the room and shutting the door behind her.

Jack turned back to his team and smiled. He tossed a thumb over his shoulder and grinned.

"I like her."

---------

The End


End file.
